thanvolk

I feel like I've been stuck in a cycle of buying cheap, disposable gloves the past couple of seasons. I try to ski 100 days every year and the cumulative wear from that builds pretty quickly, especially on a pair of gloves. My solution to this has been to buy cheap gloves knowing they'll probably wear out by the end of the season. Hestra, with its Henrik Windstedt Pro Glove, however, may have shattered this paradigm.

With all the acclaim that surrounds DPS and its signature Wailer 112RP, I knew a pair belonged in my quiver. My order arrived in early December and they quickly became my go-to resort and sidecountry powder ski for all but the deepest days (DPS has a different ski just for that — the Lotus 138). Through a combination of aggressive sidecut (141-112-128), tapered tips and tails, as well as rocker (450 mm at the tip and 400 mm at the tail) they take skiing powder to a whole new dimension. The sidecut allows for easy and quick turn initiation, while the rocker provides smooth floatation to ski untracked snow effortlessly.

If you've heard of DPS, you probably know them for their highly acclaimed progressively-shaped carbon fiber skis. Building on that success, the ski company has ventured into the realm of ski poles with a bold offering. Their adjustable Nori Poles weigh a mere 255 grams each. By comparison, a Black Diamond's Traverse Pole weighs 295 grams and the difference is immediately noticeable. Their upper and lower shafts are made of Tital and carbon fiber, respectively, which creates a remarkable combination of stiffness and strength without compromise to weight.

I went through the process of buying a sidecountry backpack this past fall and walked away from it fairly disappointed. The pack I ended up buying works fine, looks okay and fits well enough, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. As such, it wasn't much of a surprise to me that packs started catching my eyes while wandering the floors of SIA this past January. The one that stood out to me the most was Arc'teryx's Quintic 28 backpack because it not only looked good, but was thoughtfully designed in a functional way that few other of today's packs seem to be.